Andrew Goodman you should be Ashamed!

Do you work for Free? 

Like so many bloggers I am often pitched my advertising companies seeking to place ADs in various forms on my blog. Some of them are seeking free advertising and I think this is a shame. They work for a living so why do they think bloggers don't as well? Why must so many seek to take advantage of bloggers? 

No matter how good an advertisement is do Newspapers, Magazines, TV networks and Google place them for free for you? Why ask bloggers to? Your getting paid and so should we.

Shame on you! 

When Andrew Goodman (andrew.goodman69@gmail.com) contacting me asking about Guest Posting opportunities (his words) and sharing about a company he is representing that has a smartphone tracking application that is great for parents I replied letting him know I might be interested and would like to know more including what his budget was for that kind of advertising space.

 His response was rather shocking. He tried to tell me that my blog had only so many viewers from my country and because of this he thought it was fair that I should post his advertising for free. After making sure his numbers where very wrong I replied letting him know his numbers are wrong and that I don't take kindly to being asked to work for free.

Paid to Blog!

 He let me know he pays his writers well and the keywords are well researched and yadda yadda and that his source is never mistaken. Of course he didn't reveal his source but I can promise Google Analytics and my internal blog stats say his "source" certainly is.

 In the end it is my opinion that he is just another predator trying to feed on bloggers that don't know any better than to stay clear of the likes of him.

 Blog Safe! 

Bloggers, are you being taken advantage of?

    It is a sad fact that there are those out there who are knowingly taking advantage of others. One would think in such a great community like bloggers that this would not be the case, specially not from one of our own.

  I found myself on a blog, you the type, one promising great information about blogging with a catchy title, only to find the content really lacking. I thought maybe it was just one poor piece by the writer. Above the headline was a huge image talking about a blogging contest. Curiosity had me click, like many I am sure, the article I had initially been drawn in by seeming like a lure to the contest.

 What a smart way to get page rank and visibility I though as I read the contest. Enter to win $200! Write a blog review of this guys site, to enter you have to include two links to his site, talk about the contest (giving him further promotion) and so on. I would share his links here as he says he wants honest feedback but alas, that is not the case. So I will simply say, I wouldn't trust "dukeo.com" and here is why.

 I along with other bloggers commented on what a great idea the contest was and how much he was saving on doing it this way. Why? Because links and reviews like this from even small blogs normally cost about $50 a piece, be they sponsored posts or guest posts. It is about having content about a business and the links to that business. I would think a site all about SEO and traffic would know such things but instead the owner of the site acted as if he was clueless, that no blogger is paid for such things, and that he wasn't doing the contest for any other reason. Suddenly he changed the contest and added another prize, as if this would make up for it.

 He didn't believe I could make $60 for a piece like he was asking for. So I not only showed him a piece I was paid $120 for but also an important link to show how he taking advantage of bloggers, bloggers who go to his site expecting to be informed and helped. I shared this great link and he at first ignored it:

You can click on that image to go to a great article that can help you explain how much bloggers should charge for links and posts on their blog! 

  By my math, just assuming the bloggers are a basic PR2 that are entering his blog so far he has at least 10 reviews, and if he paid for them he would be paying over $500 so far. 

 He then goes and posts this: The rules for this contest are extremely simple, but it appears that some bloggers really like trying to mislead people and twist the rules… As a result, I have also received a couple of reviews which do not qualify for the contest. Here is why:

• the review can’t be included inside of a longer post about unrelated things, (you can’t have a “weekly recap” with just one paragraph about the contest)
• the review must clearly disclose that it’s part of a contest to win a prize. (don’t try misleading the reader, Dukeo doesn’t support misleading bloggers)

Making me think that he is upset people are not advertising his contest for him and are not giving him a full blog page about his blog, meaning less SEO for him. He knows what he is doing with this. I gave him the benefit of the doubt at first. But then when I posted valid information he stopped trying to act like he didn't know any better and then deleted ALL opinions on this matter, from me and others. 

 So much for wanting honest opinions about how he is doing and his site. He FAILED. Sté Kerwer stop being the big bad wolf in sheeps clothing! You will notice that I do not have any clickable links to his site on this post. I am not going to give him the SEO he so wants. Not that it would help too much though because I am using this tiny blog. It is a great platform though to show you what not to do. 

 Of course you could do it, it is smart, but it isn't really fair and if your called out on doing such a thing, at least own up to it and not cowardly hide behind the delete button. I expected better of the person, alas, a blogging God he isn't, unless he is the god of fools or lies. 

 Be sure to do your research and value the work you have put into your blog. Find out what the going rate is for your blog PR level and views. Your worth it! 

Grow your Blog!

  If you want your blog to grow, your going to have to work at it. It is not as simple as writing and posting. This I have been learning the hard way. If you want to blog better this summer follow these tips!

1. Get your own domain name!   yaddayadda.blogspot.com does not look as good as yaddayadda.com not to readers and not to advertisers and companies that may want you to review for them!

2. Photos! Go back over your old blog posts and add some photos. Photos say a thousands words and they do help with google image search to bring up your blog as well!

3. Blog every day. Every. Single. Day! I can't say this part enough!

4. Join some giveaways, search for free blog opportunities to be included in giveaways simply for posting about it and promoting it on your social networks!

5. Make sure your blog has at least it's own page on Twitter and Facebook, these are a must!

Happy Blogging!